Threaten
by outerelf
Summary: Sideswipe and Sunstreaker didn't like him even looking like he was making a move on their brother. Too bad for them, Inferno was sticking around. Flooded rooms or not.


The Lamborghini was bored. Undoubtedly, singularly bored. He had pranked the entire Arks crew (at least the ones he didn't like) at least four or five times now, and they had nothing to do except bug his darling brother.

"Red- Oh Red Alert!" The red Lamborghini called, optics glinting in the dim light. He stepped into the usually locked control room. "Red!"

"Yes Sideswipe?" The soft voice came from right behind him, and the Lamborghini turned fast, wondering once again how his brother always seemed able to sneak up on him.

"Oh good, you are here…" Sideswipes voice trailed off as he caught sight of a fire truck behind him. "Who are you?"

Red Alerts optic ridges rose. "Sideswipe, this is Inferno, he was recently transferred from one of my original bases. Inferno, meet Sideswipe, one of the best fighters on the base."

"One of the best?" Sideswipe demanded, one optic still on Inferno, "I _am_ the best."

"Sunstreaker might have something to say against that." Red Alert pointed out calmly. "Now- why are you here? Certainly not for social reasons…" His voice trailed off pointedly, optics narrowing at the Lamborghini.

Sideswipe smiled disarmingly. "What, I can't come check up on you?"

"You never checked up on me before-" Red Alert began pointing out, before Sideswipe quickly interrupted.

"Nonsense, don't think all of my pranks if for the express intention of making you mad. You need to come out of your little dark room _sometime_." Sideswipe grin grew a little more, and he gestured. "Now, if you'll excuse me-"

He left the room quickly, before turning to press his auditory receptor against the door. A warm, pleasant voice drifted out. "Red? Who was that?"

"Like I said, that was Sideswipe. Don't' worry about him, he's practically harmless."

A slightly doubtful noise escaped the fire truck, and there was a soft clang of metal and Red Alert voice drifted out in a startled yelp, "Wait Inferno!"

Sideswipe stared at the door, his CPU snapping into overdrive. Metal. On metal. That wasn't the best sound- His hand subspaced his gun, and he shot, aiming for the camera down the hallway. Inside the room he could hear a siren go off, and there was a moments pause as Sideswipe scrambled for cover. Red Alert emerged, glowering.

The Lamborghini snuck off to see Sunstreaker, and to explain the situation as fast as possible.

It took him nearly an entire breem to finally locate his twin inside of their room, doodling on the datapad. "Sunstreaker!"

"Sideswipe." The unenthusiastic reply did nothing to cut down on Sideswipes boundless energy.

"Do you know who the slag Red picked up?"

Sunstreaker looked up. "Red picked up someone? I thought we got rid of the last of them awhile ago."

"Someone else has made a move on him. While he was at a different base no less." Sideswipe proclaimed darkly. "We gotta stop it _now_."

"How?" Sunstreaker demanded, reluctant to get involved, but all big brother instincts shouting, screaming at him to stop whomever it was trying to get close to Red Alert. He was _their_ brother slag it, and they would decide if the mech was good enough for Red Alert.

"Shall we start with this?"

0o0o0o0o0o0

Inferno knew, without opening his optics that the day was starting badly. First, because of his raging, pounding CPU ache that warned him he had gone overboard with the party last night. Second, because somebody was laughing.

With a miserable groan, he attempted to curl up, only to find himself tip precariously. With a jolt he onlined his optics to find himself _above_ the room, on a thin beam that wasn't made to support his large body mass.

A few Autobots stood below him, and he peered down hopefully. "Would someone mind giving me a hand here?" He inquired hopefully.

"Oh, you're finally awake, huh?" The mech that smirked up at him was a yellow Lamborghini. "Hmm, too bad you'll have to stay up there."

"What?" Inferno cried, and flinched as the beam groaned, threatening to crack. "Look here, ah don't want to be rude, but this ain't funny."

The amused look wiped itself off the Lamborghini faceplate. "I know."

The beam groaned again, and Inferno began sending up a silent prayer to Primus. A voice that he recognized only distantly broke in. "Sunny!" The red Lamborghini that stepped up next to the yellow was indeed familiar somehow. "You shouldn't do that."

A sigh of relief shook Infernos body at the thought of rescue. "You left the ladder out in the hallway where anyone could see it. You have to put it away."

Sunstreaker snorted, as the beam cracked. For an awful moment Inferno thought that he was going to crash onto the ground, when salvation came in the unexpected form of the beam catching on something. Sunstreaker glanced at the other Lamborghini. "What did you do?"

"We can't have him killed, but we can scare him." The Lamborghini pointed out. "Let's leave him up there for awhile."

"Wait!" Inferno wailed, clinging to his beam. "Why are ya doing this to me?" His CPU was aching, and he couldn't remember ever making anyone mad enough to do such a dangerous thing.

"Stay _away_ from Red Alert." The yellow Autobot hissed, optics icy blue. Inferno stared dumbly at the Autobot. _Red Alert? What did Red have anything to do with this? Why the slag were they targeting him? Did they actually think he'd stay away?_ Those questions and a thousand more drifted through his CPU, spinning and tossing in turbulence of a hangover CPU.

The red Autobot nudged the yellow, grinning. "Now, remember, not a single word to Red. Or we'll tear your spark out."

The voice was happy, but the murderous undertones were all too clear. Inferno took a deep breath and got ready to fling himself down at the two Lamborghinis and start pounding in their faces. Red Alerts voice cracked over the PA system. "We have a Decpeticon spy loose on base- be ready to intercept-"

Inferno watched as the two rushed out, before regarding the ground far beneath him in sorrow. Too far to jump, he'd probably break a leg. He could really climb on down, due to the fact the beams were already strained rather badly- "Inferno! Where are you! We got a fire-"

Inferno groaned mentally as Red Alert proceeded to give him the information. "I-I'll be right there Red."

"Very well."

No choice for it, he would have to take a chance with dropping. Before he could think twice, he swung down, hanging by his hands before dropping onto the ground. The fire truck winced, trying to relax like he had been taught to spread the impact across his body, before he slammed into another mech.

"Wha?" Inferno looked down surprised. He could seen nothing, but there was clearly something _beneath_ him. "Erm, hello?"

"Would you mind getting off already?" An irate voice demanded. "I'm trying to catch the spy Red Alert is so worked up about." Hasitly Inferno scrambled off, and the invisible mech must of stalked off, for Inferno felt himself to be alone.

"Well…" Inferno murmured doubtfully, "That didn't go too well."

Red Alert barked over the comm. link, "Inferno! Where are you?"

"Coming Red!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sideswipe regarded the two mechs infront of him with narrowed optics. Red Alert was obviously talking to Inferno, who was nodding and grinning. Grinning. Sideswipes teeth ground. _Looks like he doesn't take a hint too well._ Some nasty voice pointed out. _Time to step it up a notch._

He stepped out into the open, smiling. "Oh Red-"

Red Alert turned to stare at his brother, one optic ridge rising. "Red, Sunny finished up his newest creation. Come see!"

Red Alert, intrigued by the offer, stepped forward, when Inferno interrupted, "That reminds me Red, there was someone who reported a security breech over in the Northern part of the base. Ya should look at that."

Red Alert looked thoughtful, and Inferno smirked. Sideswipe smile remained plastered to his face. Yes, the fire truck was going _down_ after this. The red Lamborghini mused out loud, almost to himself, "Sunny probably won't keep the picture around knowing him, and the breach will be there. Only take a breem or two."

"True- true-" Red Alert murmured, torn slightly. Yes, he did have to secure the breach, but Sunstreakers pictures were always worth seeing. He glanced down at the floor. Sideswipe snarled at Inferno. Inferno hands twitched.

When the unsuspecting Security Director looked back up, both had their normal, happy-go-lucky smiles in place. "Alright Sideswipe, first to Sunstreaker, then I'll go with Inferno to see the breach."

Red Alert stepped out while Sideswipe smirked triumphantly. Inferno smiled blandly back. "I get him after you do." Inferno reminded, "And for a longer time."

With that dig, Inferno departed. Sideswipes teeth ground together a little further. He was going to make that silly fire truck _pay_. Slag him, he had been right about the security breach taking up more time, especially if it was real.

He sent a private message to Sunstreaker, ignored the blistering resentment that flew back across the bond, informing him it was the first thing he could think of. He was going have to plan this a little bit more carefully for maximum pull apart of the two.

Nobody. Absolutely _nobody_ was going to lay a single finger on his brother without his express permission. And the fire truck had thoroughly scratched out that option.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Inferno collapsed onto the nearby seat, not caring if it fell to pieces on him. _Slag, the last few weeks have been busy-_ Inferno groaned as the thought nagged at him. He hadn't come in here to think, he had come in here _not_ to think.

His CPU couldn't help but dig up the memory of the past week however, and Inferno found himself wincing. It had become a veritable war to win Red Alerts time. The twins, what with there being _two_ of them, had managed to wrestle a fair amount of time away from him.

_Why me?_ His CPU wailed, _why do thy hate me?_

His body shivered as it remembered waking up to find his entire quarters were filled with water nearly to the ceiling. He still didn't know how the two had managed it, and didn't really think he wanted to know. All that really mattered was that the twins had somehow managed to fill his room with water, and he had woken up nearly panicking.

It was a good thing that he could drown. But the point was well made. Most of his datapads no longer worked, but he very rarely read them anyways. He was still mourning over the fact that his extensive vid collection was undoubtedly beyond repair now.

Inferno sighed, CPU struggling to figure out the reason why they were so protective of Red Alert. It wasn't that they were bonded, after all, if they were Red Alert would've told him…right?

Infernos optics onlined as the sound of footsteps echoed in the room, and he looked up. Sideswipe. Good. With a smile that bared all of his teeth he stood, optics fixated on the Lamborghini. "Sunstreaker-"

"Inferno." The nod Sunstreaker gave him was grudging, but at least it acknowledged that he was alive.

"Sunstreaker, I want to know why the slag you're trying to drive me away from Red."

"You don't need to know, all you need to do is stop coming close." Sunstreaker snarled, as his hands clenched. Inferno didn't flinch as he stared directly at the Lamborghini. He wasn't going to be chased off now, while there was only one of them.

"Look, I don't want to stop seeing Red, he's a good Autobot if you simply get to know him. And I don't see the point of all these pranks."

"Are you accusing me of setting those pranks?"

"Well, seeming how I've woken up to find myself painted in different colors more then once, including the exact paint job of our base commander who is the biggest aft ever created, I don't see how I could be mistaken."

"There are a million other artists." Sunstreaker snapped, optics narrowing.

"Only one of which seems to have a personal agenda against me." Inferno protested. "What's your problem with me and Red being together."

Inferno didn't have time to react before Sunstreaker had him pinned down against the floor, optics glinting in anger. "Do you really want to find out?"

A muffled sound was the only thing that could escape the squeezed vocalizer. With a growl, Inferno raised one fist to slug the other Autobot in the face. Normally he attempted to avoid brawls, being easy-going and willing to let small insults fly but this was too much.

He had been pranked variously, ruthlessly, and was reaching the end of his already finite amount of patience. The only patience he had was with Red Alert, and even that wasn't the biggest amount. Sunstreaker howled, "You scratched my paint!"

Inferno awkwardly rolled to one side, optics burning. "Slag you! Is it so wrong to want to be friends with Red? It's not like you can claim his body!"

"Just stay away from our brother!" Sunstreaker shouted back. "You'd just break his spark anyways!"

Inferno paused, hands clenching, optics burning. But that earlier bit of information certainly clicked in a few pieces of the missing puzzle. "Are you jealous?" Inferno demanded weakly. Surely these two giant warriors couldn't be jealous of the time he spent with Red Alert…

The utter stillness in which Sunstreaker held himself made Inferno decide to rethink. "You are jealous. What the slag for? You're his brothers!"

Silence, deadly and sharp hung between the two, until Sunstreakers hands clenched, and he charged.

0o0o0o0o0

Red Alerts voice dimly filtered through Infernos auditory receptors. Automatic guilt rose as the voices anger grew in intensity, and with a sigh of relief Inferno let it go as he realized the anger wasn't directed at _him_.

"Red, ya know what type of mech he probably is! He'll probably leave you without a backwards look, and you know that!" Sideswipe snarled. "Just like all those others, or even our creators!"

"Our creators didn't leave us, that's the pity." Sunstreaker snapped off to the side.

"Not physically, no but otherwise it was like we never existed." Sideswipe agreed.

Red Alert broke in. "Still, that was no reason to beat him up Sunstreaker. And Sideswipe, don't think I haven't noticed all those pranks. When he wakes up, you're both going to apologize, and you're both going to mean it."

Stony silence fell. Red Alert sighed. "It's not like he can replace you two. And he's just a friend. We haven't done anything."

Was it just his overactive imagination, or did Red Alert add on a hopeful, silent _yet_ to the end of that last sentence? Inferno twitched, and groaned, slowly trying to shove himself into a sitting up position. His arms gave out, and a hand rested on his helm.

"Easy Inferno. You got beaten up rather badly."

Infernos optics onlined to see Red Alert brining up an energon cube, for his parched throat. Only in his imagination was the halo and heavenly choir provided in the background. "Energon." He squeaked, and Red Alert nodded, and patiently helped him sip at it.

Behind Red Alert he could see the twin headed demon of 'big brother instincts' rising its head to glower at him. Oh yes, he was defiantly going into dangerous territory.

Then again, he had always loved dangerous territory. The twins would just have to accept him. With that thought firmly in his CPU, he drifted off into recharge in Red Alerts arms.

* * *

A/N: Hah! Silly bunny from thee Bunny farm I have successfully written you out and ended you on a good note for once in my little one shots. Now back to homework! Please Read and Review all!


End file.
